The governor recently announced cuts to social service programs, blaming what he called "short-sighted decisions" by the GOP-led legislature.
In response, House Speaker David Osborne described the cuts as a "cruel and unnecessary blow to agencies that service our state's most vulnerable," going on to say that lawmakers gave Beshear the "flexibility" to protect those services through savings and the elimination of outdated or ineffective programs.
Thursday, Beshear said he's taking those words at face value and transferring millions from unrealized projects and lower-than-expected debt service costs into social services — with an emphasis on restoring foster care cuts.
"I want to admit these are extraordinary measures and we'll see if the General Assembly means what they said — that I have flexibility — or if it was just meant to shift blame for the cuts they know they were making," the governor said. "We'll get our answer based on whether they challenge this in court."
Beshear said he's using the transferred dollars to eliminate reductions for foster care parents and providers, restore access to TANF for 1,500 Kentuckians, and to blunt roughly half of state cuts to Medicaid.
While Republicans had yet to officially respond immediately following Thursday's press briefing, Speaker Osborne had accused the Beshear administration of "consistently" finding funding it needs to expand state government and advance its priorities, citing the governor's Pre-K for All plan.
The announcement now puts the ball in Republicans' court, though Beshear said any legal challenge will take the money out of the social service programs because the dollars have already been moved.